Cathy+W.


 * SUMMARY: On July 11, 1909, 24-year-old Cathy died in Cook County Hospital after a self-induced abortion.**

At six weeks pregnant, 24-year-old "Cathy", identified in the source document as "Mrs. W.," used a catheter on herself to perform an abortion. All seemed well for three weeks, but then she took sick.

On July 7, 1909, three weeks after taking ill, Cathy was admitted to Cook County Hospital by a doctor who had diagnosed her as suffering from typhoid fever. Her pulse was 144, her respirations 42, and her temperature 104.8.

The Widal test for typhoid came back negative. Cathy's blood culture showed streptococci instead. Her leucocyte count was 8,800. Cathy developed an abscess on her left forearm, and it too tested positive for streptococci. For reasons the source document does not make clear, the septicemia was attributed to the self-induced abortion.

Doctors were unable to fight the infection, and Cathy died on July 11.

Source: "A Study Of and Deductions From Fifty Fatal Cases of Puerperal Fever," Dr. Herbert Marion Stowe, //Surgery Gynecology and Obstetrics//, 1912, and

Most likely identity: This is the only married woman of that age, last initial W, who listed in Chicago death records for that day.
 * ~ Name: || BarbaraWilkins ||
 * ~ Birth Date: || abt 1885 ||
 * ~ Birth Place: || Chicago, Cook, Illinois ||
 * ~ Death Date: || 11 Jul 1909 ||
 * ~ Death Place: || Chicago, Cook, Illinois ||
 * ~ Burial Date: || 14 Jul 1909 ||
 * ~ Burial Place: || Chicago, Cook, Illinois ||
 * ~ Cemetery Name: || Waldheim ||
 * ~ Death Age: || 24 ||
 * ~ Occupation: || Housewife ||
 * ~ Race: || White ||
 * ~ Marital Status: || Married ||
 * ~ Gender: || Female ||
 * ~ Residence: || Chicago, Cook, Illinois ||